Re: Actual Warp Drive Theory (was Re: Light may break its own speedlimit)

On Fri, 21 July 2000, Jerry Han wrote:

> Now the problem is, what the heck is 'negative energy'?   (8-)

Negative energy is, essentially, what it sounds like. Beam negative
energy at a cup of water and it gets cold, not hot. 

Apparently it's predicted by quantum mechanics. A total vacuum has a net
energy state of zero. However, quantum mechanics dictates that particles
pop in and out of existence even in a vacuum, so that means that at some
given moment there is energy even in a vacuum. To come to a net state of
zero, there has to be negative energy. It also features in Hawking's
dissolving black hole theory.

The article explains it in more detail (although I had to take some of
it as "okay, umm... take your word for it"). They have apparently
produced negative energy in the lab, but only small amounts for very
short periods of time.

I'm not sure how you'd create negative energy. They talk about
"squeezing" quantum states, but no one has figured out how to separate
negative and positive energy without using positive energy (which would
then eliminate the negative energy state). So, it's all still very much
conjecture. But the possibility was quite interesting. 

Allan Goodall - agoodall@canada.com
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